2019-06-21 - A Dark & Stormy Night on Elm Street

Finch has gotten a job, but her first paycheck won't be coming for a little bit yet. So, to get the cable turned back on at Mallard House, she came down to Elm Street to visit the Pawn Shop. Two more pieces of art from the family collection are now sitting in hock, an antique mantle clock and an art nouveau hand bell. Then the rain came down and the power went out. She's been sitting in the bus stop ever since, the pawn shop owner having locked up and gone home with no lights on.

The busses don't seem to be running though (She has no idea the street is blocked off). Finch forgot her umbrella in her rush to get the cash, so she watches through the foggy, scratched plexiglass side of the shelter at the sandbag process, debating if going to help is a good idea, or just a definite way to get soaked and possibly struck by lightning. The thunderclap rattles the shelter hard, and she swallows. Debating whether this is a good place to be, or if maybe she should hoof it on home.

The intersection of Elm being blocked off creates problems. For example, Graham works over on Maple and - with the power out and the club closed - he winds up stuck in a snarl of traffic that eventually has him pulling into the nearest parking lot, dumping his car, and making this trek on foot. Close strikes of lightning are worrisome, and he peers out from under his umbrella with a sudden (and none too brave) yelp when one hits the light-post down the street. "Holy shit," he proclaims eloquently, skittering under the bus shelter with Finch. "Fucking Elm Street, amirite?"

She was going to be tough and she wasn't going to text about it, because hey, she's a big girl now. But maybe Lilith shouldn't send mildly cryptic texts and let her phone go dead. To be fair, it might be losing signal the way the weather is going, that or it's just one of those things. But shortly after she sends Byron a text earlier in the afternoon during the deluge, it does the thing and turns off and she doesn't notice because she starts doing something else while waiting for response. His attempted calls go straight to voicemail when he tries to clarify exactly when and what she means. Because the text isn't detailed, it just says: Did things go all strange for you?

That's probably why Byron has showed around just in time before the barriers and she's making coffee to explain. But they never really get that far because there's storm and street gawking to do. She might be a little subdued, but suddenly she's nosy and bold about going straight out the shop and out of the smoked glass door to see where that lightning actually hit. That was loud.

The job never stops for someone who basically works from his posh office in his posh penthouse. That said, after having made a few business calls on Friday afternoon, the evening is left open. That is until Byron receives a text message from Lilith, one that piqued his interest. And then nothing. His response to her goes unanswered and when he tried to call, she wasn't picking up. She'd asked if things went weird for him too. He has a feeling that he knew what she meant.

So he drove out to check on her and that's why he's here now. He made it in before the street was being rerouted, so he's at least enjoying a cup of coffee or would have if the power didn't cut off to the coffee maker. At least he's out of the rain then. Not only that, but the lightning strikes sound uncomfortably close. "It doesn't look like I'm going anywhere anytime soon." He murmurs out to Lilith as he takes a look out the window and onto the street.

Finch blinks up at Graham as he enters her safe space, trying to flush the afterimages of the lightning strike from her vision. She squints at him, because his face is familiar to her. Oh yeah, he was the hot bad boy senior at school, when she was in her junior year. "Graham, right? I think we went to high school together," she says, although did anyone have crazy pink hair like that in school back then? She looks like she is debating braving the rain, as she adjust the goggles atop her head, pondering using them to at least be able to see clearly in the deluge.

That crash of thunder is enough to wake the dead. Definitely enough to get a sometimes-paranoid Alexander to come practically tumbling out of his house and going looking for what the hell just blew up. He has a flashlight, and his work boots are getting good use as he tromps through rising water looking for fires. Or people. People are good, too. When he sees some, he heads in that direction, head bent under the force of the rain.

Reeling back from the sound of his name and eyeballing Finch warily, Graham answers, "Yes?" Like, he's really not willing to commit to being Graham just yet. There's a very clear lack of return recognition when he looks her over, tilting his umbrella askew and peering and finally, "Cool? Did we - " 'Do stuff' is where that question was going. But the commotion by the lightning-struck post saves him from actually having to ask.

Lilith used a gas stove and one of those fancy slow glass drip hipster carafes that supposedly lets you taste the bouquet of the coffee or some nonsense, so luckily, Byron -did- get some coffee in him after that drive and for the extent of the viewing. Too bad it wasn't whiskey or something stronger, though. Lilith is suddenly being kind of excitably annoying about her storm gawking while he does the more sensible thing and initially uses the window until all her darting in and out to needlessly update him on what's been hit culminates in both of them seeing the pending crash, which sends her opening the glass door to see better from the shop front... and lets that noise in too.

"If this turns into Dogma and we're about to see a literal shitmonster, I'm moving. I quit. Felix can eat me, I have limits, damnit." She probably doesn't mean that, but this place is what it is and in that wide-eyed moment when she looks Byron's way, she looks like she means it. Especially after their particular afternoon of personal strangeness the day before. Then she puffs air over her lips and rakes a hand through damp hair to downright plow out into the rain to make sure she heard what she heard and isn't actually crazy, "... you heard that too, right?"

From the comfort of the Pawn Shop, Byron can somewhat see the damage that's been done to the city outside. The crack of lightning sheds light on that there are a few people at the bus stop in this rain and darkness. "Someone should tell them that I don't think that a bus will be arriving any time soon." The question is will that someone be Byron?

It's a sight to see, but he notices the tug on the power pole when those wires begin to be swept away and down into the drain. There was something unnerving about that image. That's when he hears something, which is odd with how the rain was practically drowning the town and muffling most sounds that weren't lightning strikes.

At first he blinks, but it's very clear that a 'voice' said something and it sounded like it was coming from beneath the street. At the question asked about whether he'd heard the thing or not, all he can say is, "Yep." Look, he just experienced one dream very recently, it was way too early for another one. He's just glad that he got some coffee in him before this madness.

"Finch Celaeno," the petite weird girl clarifies for Graham. It's not his fault. She was a normal-looking, straight A's, good girl, goddamned cheerleader back in the day. Connecting that to his colorful bird of a woman can't be easy. But he might also remember that her mother tried to kill her the summer before she started high school. "We did not," she replies with a snort.

She stiffens suddenly at the sound from beneath the street. "Did you hear that?" she asks Graham with a concerned expression, her brow furrowing as her eyes sweep to the storm drain and the burbling backup coming out of it. "Think this bus stop will flood?" she asks worriedly.

"Motherfucker!" That is an Alexander who has just noticed the stoplight tumbling over. And dragging a power line. Into the water. The water that he is currently tromping through. He doesn't care that the power's been out for an hour, he dashes for the nearest bit of SORT of dry cover, ducking under the Pawn Shop awning as the door opens. He blinks at Lilith and Byron, then spins around when that gravely voice sounds. He jumps back, away from the street, his ass hitting the front of the shop as he swings his flashlight around. Yep, he heard that too.

Again, Graham isn't going to get out his whole thought before shit goes sideways. "The cheerleader? Holy shit, you look - " Something!

It's not that Lilith wants to play hero, really, but nosy is a problem suddenly while she takes that moment to do the courteous thing and YELL through the rain at Graham and Finch to come inside an actual building instead of using the distant bus stop to huddle. And that no doubt includes Alexander stumbling wetly with his flashlight to eaves of the shop, "Come inside! It's dangero--" Yeah, it's dangerous. She exemplifies that and soon the pair across the way has a stunning example of it too, first hand.

The water takes her slouch booted feet like there's no tread left underneath suddenly and it's almost comical the way she's standing and then just -not- standing. Or it would be if she wasn't about to be washed away into the mess and whatever that noise was! Naturally, the closest thing is a curb after she just misses Alexander's leg on the way down, and that sucks for grabbing, but there is the momentary grip of fingerhold on storm drain grating in the meantime as she panic gasps and realizes she's not just fallen, but being dragged, "Byron!"

When Byron realizes what Lilith is planning to do, if it weren't for that croaking voice, he may not have been overly concerned. The sound of the rain falling is heard much louder once she opens the door making him turn towards that direction with cautious eyes, before moving to follow. Obviously, she's the first one out, letting herself get soaked in that rain. Not that Byron's afraid of rain or nuthin' but there are better places to be than out there.

In fact, he spots Alexander trying to make his way over to the shop, but before he can say anything, Lilith is swept away by a sudden.. current. Something that takes him by surprise as it happens right before his eyes. It's a good thing he's dressed down for the weather and those heavy boots do their best to try and keep his feet dry. "Lil!" He calls out, pushing his way out onto the street as well in an attempt to catch up with her before she gets too far, "Don't let her get swept into the drain." This is said to the nearby Alexander. Byron just has this feeling.

"LOOK OUT!" Finch hollers as she dives out of the bus stop's shelter, in the split second before the pole comes down on it. She is elbow deep in mucky water as she turns her head back to look at the plexiglass structure collapsed on top of... "Graham! Can you hear me?! Are you ok?" She scrambles back to her feet and begins trying to move bits of things away, trying to find the guy beneath.

There's a lot of noise and crashing, and bus stops falling in on people. Alexander looks panicked, like he wants to just dive under a nearby bench and hide for a while. But then Lilith is coming out and he shouts, "Stay insi--" aannnnnnd she's gone. He says something his mother would slap his mouth for, then plunges back into the water after Lilith. "Miss Winslow! Kick!" While he tries to grab one of her arms.

Graham does not get knocked unconscious again. Pretty sure that his brain won't be able to handle another concussion. But he definitely gets flattened, lands all the way on his chest, making a lot of unhappy noises that include profanity at its finest. He tries to help Finch with the plexiglass over top of him, gets as far as rolling onto a shoulder... and then along comes the splash of some foul water, and he just has time to announce, "This is why everyone fucking hates Elm Street," when the current rips him away. A hand flails toward Finch - any port in a storm! - then he's being sucked right down the gutter.

Lilith had mostly grown out of playing superhero, but the bold and reckless nature of her in a moment of crisis? Maybe not so much. Annnnd she's paying for it, so is everyone else to their own wet and fallen degrees. She gets sucked down the gutter with sputters and reaching grabs for Byron in desperation with those last moments. But Alexander's advice at least sinks in and she's not sure what she's kicking at, if she's kicking anything at all, but suddenly she is furious with herself and the general principle of being sucked down a damn street gutter into... oh god. She kicks harder on principle. And she's pissed and panic flailing, but... it doesn't really stop her water gurgled scream of fear that's short and terrible on the way down.

It's a struggle to remain standing when you're trudging along and a wave of the muck makes the waters rise again, though the impact doesn't actually knock Byron over, it's those gripping tendrils that make him lose his footing as he desperately reaches a hand out in Lilith's direction as she's being dragged further and further towards the drain. "Lilith!"He calls out to her, before he stumbles unsteadily, losing his balance to take a tumble into the stream of muck. He tries to grab ahold of something in an attempt to keep steady and prevent himself from being swept away as well, but when he turns back to watch Lilith disappearing into the depths of the sewer, hearing her cries, all he can do is state what's obviously on everyone's mind, "Shit."

This? This is not what Finch had been expecting. She just wanted to be able to watch Game of Thrones at Granny Dove's house, people! She flails as she's tumbled off her feet by the current, and her eyes widen at the sight of the looming storm drain. She paddles hard and reaches to try and grab the broken form of Graham in the tide of disgusting water. Don't get separated. That's the most prevalent thought. She doesn't want to be alone DOWN THERE.

Alexander doesn't like to be touched. He likes being knocked off his feet into backed up sewer water EVEN LESS, but his shout of fear and outrage becomes more of a pained WUMPH of air being driven out of his lungs as he hits the pavement. Stars explode in front of his eyes as his head ALSO hits the pavement. One hand continues to clutch the flashlight, but the other just sort of slaps and claws at the water, trying to find some sort of purchase to regain his feet.

Lilith coughs and sputters and hacks from trying to scream through the water during the sucking pull into the gutter for the air hovering fall, hitting the sewer ground with splash. After spitting with ugh and trying to catch her breath from where it was gasped and knocked out of her with force, she flips with crawl and shoves up nasty and wet like she's ready to scrap something instead of being eaten by jarring stillness of breathing fear and recovery. But that furious scrappiness in her dies out pretty quick because A: There's nothing for her to tear up. B: Byron's here too now, what? And C: So is everyone else. And D: ... what the fuck was that?

In a pained burst, she goes to try and help Byron up with a doubletake glance at Alexander... no, beyond Alexander, "... what was that?"

Graham hits the ground with a splash, knocks the back of his head into the wall behind him, and helpfully blacks out for about thirty seconds. While having landed on top of people. It's okay, just shove him off the pile.

Byron wasn't going to let Lilith be lost within the mysterious city beneath the city that is the sewer system. Not that he has a choice, because no matter what he tries to secure himself with, he's being just as easily dragged along with the rest of them. The fall into the sewer stream might have hurt a little, but when he's deposited rudely from the mouth of the sewers then landing into the muck below and then having Graham and whoever else landing ontop of him, that knocks the wind out of him.

Dragging himself up to sit, he does, indeed, push Graham off of him, only then realizing who the hell that was. He's also holding the side of his head with a hand, wincing slightly, looking like a man who has a really bad headache. He sees Lilith at first, when his eyes begin to readjust, but he also sees something else. "Lil--" His words are cut off and then he's struggling to stand and get out of this pile of bodies, "There was someone there." For all he knew it could've been one of them. Someone swept into the sewer. He does however, point in the direction leading towards the Downtown district. "Is... Is everyone alright? What the hell just happened?"

This is bad. So so bad. Finch extracts herself from the top of the pile and reaches a hand out. Her fingers dance mostly unseen in the darkness as she attempts to mend what is broken in Graham. They will need him in one piece of they're going to get out of here. But even as her spirit glimmer creeps over to him in silken strands only she can see in her minds eye, it meets resistance. The silvery strands curl back, as her fingers weave like a puppet master, looking for an opening, but blocked at every turn. The strands break off like a puppet with its strings cut, and she stops trying. Her attention, like Lilith's, drawn down the tunnel. "I'm ok, but I think Graham is hurt," she replies to Byron.

Sploosh! Alexander is spit out into the foul smelling sewer water with a splash, which is fine. This is fine. Until he realizes that he's landed ON people and they've landed ON him, and they are TOUCHING HIM and he wasn't prepared for that at all. That's when he starts screaming like a small and frightened child, flailing and convulsing until he can fight his way free of the pile. People do get punched and kicked and stepped on (probably Graham) until he can stagger off to the side and try to regain his nonexistant chill. He shudders and gasps. "I hate. This fucking. Town."

"I HATE THIS TOOOOWWWNNNN!" is what is heard as Penny is drug down into the sewers with a wet thunk. The coroner lands is a wet pile of clothes and she's still holding her book clutched in her hands. She looks around when she hears other voices, but her attention is drawn back as someone...or something heads around a corner. "If someone is hurt I can help." she coughs out as she starts to get up.

Blearily, Graham tells everyone, "It's fine. I'm fine." Even better, he has a pistol. He pulls it out of his waistband about this time, brandishing it none too cautiously. Fortunately, before he has time to accidentally shoot anyone (including himself)...

Lilith rubs at one of her arms sorely and works it around while standing there next to Byron playing catchup with the assessment of everyone else once she realizes he's okay and breathing and talking and thinking. She might have caught one of those kicks and punches of Alexander's on the way crawling out of the body pain heap of water and 'oh no' but she's not complaining about it. Instead, she hesitates some while looking at Graham with Finch's update on someone being hurt and she may have the 'oomph' in her to do something about it, but it's not really her forte to wittingly fix -people- and it shows there with her moment of sudden self-doubt written in flash on her features.

Suddenly she feels a little lucky in the middle of a lot of shit because Penny is literally washed in with assurances of bodily help and Graham is moving around and talking now, so that's one less thing to deal with. Just as she takes hold of Byron's wet arm for the sake of feeling something steady and she's making verbal plans, things hit the fan again, "Okay. Okay. We need to move before--"

She was probably going to say something along the lines of 'before we drown' not 'before SLIME MONSTERS appear' but ah. The splash of water bringing the slimy doom blobs jars her into a literal squeak instead of finished sentence. Her boldness is nowhere to be found suddenly as she stares.

Despite his asking whether people were okay, Byron's attention continues to be focused off in the distance where he said he saw a man. Either way, he's gone now. He can't help but wonder if the guy was lingering around and watching or if they were really gone. There's this moment where he's planning on checking just that, with these abilities that he possesses, but feeling the touch at his soggy sleeve, he turns to look down at Lilith. If she'd answered before, he'll ask again, this time directly to her, "Are /you/ alright?" He begins his visual inspection, when he's spurred on by her suggestion that they reach the ladder... or that's what he assumed she'd say.

Instead her words are cut off and that's when he, and most likely others, realize that there were fantasy creatures standing before them. He recalls seeing something similar in various video games from his youth. "This has got to be a dream..."

"Oh God," Finch blurts out, almost covering her mouth with her hand but remembering that hand has been in the muck and stopping. She looks at the things forming from the... don't think about it. "I will NOT die to a bunch of poo emojis!" she whisper hisses.

It probably says something about Alexander's life that unexpected human contact triggers a bit of a breakdown, but the appearance of frankly ridiculous monsters actually seems to help stabilize him. He shifts into a defensive posture facing the slimes. "I think I'm the Black Mage," he mutters. A glance to the others, and a doubletake at Penny. "...Miss Faust. White Mage." He's still shivering, his voice wavering even as he tries to joke.

Penny gets to her feet and she looks over the others, "I just wanted a normal Saturday." she states quietly with a half amused look. Then there's the sound of mushy footsteps and she turns to see the slime monster. "Oh you've got to be kidding me." she sighs as her shoulders droop. Then her hands come up towards her face, then she thinks better of it. No idea what is on her hands. She keeps her eye on the slimes for the moment.

Graham, still sitting in the murky water, says a very brilliant, "Fuuuuck," while he looks at these... thingies... over there. "Did I die? I did, didn't I." He rubs the back of his head, where a nice bump is raising, and tries to use the wall to slide to his feet. He looks at the gun, looks at the blobs, and has a realization: he is so unequipped for this encounter.

Before Finch can even find her footing, she is hit with a terrible blob of, terrible stuff, and knocked right out. There is shrapnel in her chest, and she is unconscious but with a sudden gasp of breath she's back up and scrambling into a defensive posture.

It's reflex to lash out with fire for Lilith but there's a lot of water and these are... slimes. Okay, they're probably something else, all told, but in the name of mental preservation, she tries not to think at all about what exactly they are. And fire just kind of burns and goes out despite the defensive lash of raging heat she sends that way right before she's slammed with the nasty glob that beats into her chest and knocks the air out of her for a spell, giving Byron space to shove himself in front of her when she recoils. Immediately, though, she's changing tact to defend him instead and narrows her eyes to try and yank that goop into smaller pieces from the core. It should be easier for her-- they're basically things without anatomy, right? And things are -her- thing to break or fix.

But also this is screwy and gross, so who knows what her change of tact is going to do to a slime as she tries to force it apart with power from the center, teeth grit with focus.

"You're not dead, yet," Alexander informs Graham, solemnly. Emphasis on the 'yet' as suddenly there are horrible things flying through the air. Alexander's lips press to a grim line and he darts forward, dodging flying...stuff...and grabbing one of the blobs. It oozes away, but not before there's a KKZZZAP! and sparks fly, crackling from his hands over the skin-ish-stuff. Alexander tries to chase after it.

Penny is hit...and hit hard. There's a moment she stumbles and reaches out to grab the wall for a moment, "Fucking little shits!" she growls out. Then she's dragging herself back up and her hands become wreathed in flames. Because now she's pissed.

There was no way in Hell that Byron was going to assume that these jelly things weren't here to eat them. And even if the slimes don't launch themselves at him with maws wide open, this yellow fuck lands right at his feet and practically spits at him, coating him already uncomfortably drenched attire with even more grossness. Then these things are on the move and from what he can see going on all around them, they hIt pretty darn hard for what it is.

He didn't like the idea of laying one finger on these puddles with eyes, but he knows that that's what he has to do because he sure as hell isn't going to find a bear down here! Rats maybe.. They move around in that weird sloshy hoppy manner that when he has his eyes set on one of them the one that looks to want a piece of Lilith, he finds another willing to take that same risk. Thus, acting as her protector for childhood reasons, he positions himself before her, looking ready to launch his own attack if need be.

Reeling backward, Graham starts to crouch next to where Finch collapsed, his eyes enormous. "Holy shit!" he announces profoundly, then stumbles again when she gets right back up. "I don't think you're qualified to determine that," he tells Alexander dubiously, pointing at what just happened to Finch... then what's happening down the hallway... but whatever. He takes aim at these nasty bastards. This pistol will totally work on shitblobs!

More gross...let's just admit it's shit, ok? ...strikes Finch in the chest and she staggers back with a shout of pain. In return, her hands stretch out, clawlike, to try and ignite the offensive pile of crap with her Spirit glimmer.

Alexander stops for a moment, blinking when the two blobs hug. Aww. That's kinda...cute. A little. It also allows the grayblob to stand still long enough for Alexander to make this a group hug. He darts forward, dodging past a nasty explosive outburst, and cursing when a bit of the explosion hisses on his bare arm. It doesn't stop him from wrapping his arms around the Grayblob and squeezing. KZZZZAP!

And then...the Grayblob explodes. Sploosh. Sorry about the splash, guys.

Penny lets a ball of flame go crashing into the group, but it's not effective. She doesn't seem to be annoyed by it either. "Could be worse." she mutters to herself and prepares for the next strike. She wasn't going to ever get the smell out of these clothes.

With the double team-up of Byron and Lilith working together to take down this poor brown blob that actually does look like actual poop more than some of the others, while there's this repulsion that he feels about getting his hands dirty in this way, Byron's already covered in the stuff. So when he finds an opening, he reaches forward to make... actual contact with the thing and sending a jolt of electricity through its squishy core.

When that one's out of the way, it's parts bouncing around and some coming to help form up with the Black blob, there's just this shake of his head. He can see that several are already on /that/ job, leaving one almost lonely green blob to have it's way with Graham. Yeah, he'll go after that one first. Uncertain is the criminal type is capable of taking it down or not.

That definitely worked better than fire. With Byron and Lilith and Penny lighting up the most brownish blob in their various ways, it sizzles with current, burns with heat, then is torn apart from the center into a bunch of ick. She looks inclined to push her way in front of Byron right after, like they're about to tag team and take turns getting hit with nasty and that's just the way it's going to be, but with the focuses turned elsewhere, she turns against him some with support to look at the others turned on and holds her breath while lashing out, "Did... did they just..." High five? Yep. That seems to throw her for a moment in the middle of a lot of things throwing her.

Whatever she's about to ask is cut off by the splash of Alexander's blob reflexively closing her mouth to keep anything from getting into it. And she focuses on that first blob that came at her with roundabout swap of focus.

Finch hisses as her flame doesn't ignite the blob, and the thing instead attacks poor battered Graham. She growls and tries again more focused.

Alexander lunges at the Blackblob, which bloooooops out of the way, leaving him to stagger and splash in the water. He regains his footing, slipping a little on the blob-bits (or something else) around as he spins around and sees...both blobs starting to angle towards him. "Really? REALLY?" Sparks crackle around his fingertips. "Fine. Fuck you too." He advances towards the black blob.

Look, so Byron wasn't so much trying to protect Graham from his blobby menace, but he figured he'd give the guy a hand! Unfortunately, even when his open palm touches the sticky surface of that green squish body, the results are less than stellar. Maybe that's why the green thing gets the jump on Graham the way it does, making Byron swerve to get out of the way and only then does he withdraw his hand. He'll offer a non-electrifying hand if Graham needs it to stand, but there may still be some static electricity residue in there.

"That didn't go as planned." He says, his eyes on both blobs just as the ever growing one douses him and Lilith with more of its cheer. "God damn it." He practically has to spit out.

Penny was hoping that these things would die a bit quicker, but then there's the joining of others into the black blob and she shakes her head. Trying to clear things. She gets hit in the arm with a shot and there's a moment she stares at it. Then she's looking to see how bad the others are doing. Everyone seems to be...not dead yet. So she continues her flame assault.

Graham should just stay down, honestly. He gets covered in shit, some of which manages to knock him right back on his ass - and then all the way onto his back. He knocks his head (again), sees stars. And yet is somehow not unconscious again. His shot totally misses the blobs, though, and ricochets off the ceiling. But whatever, he sits back up and tries to aim again. Under his breath, he can be heard muttering about how Elm Street fucking sucks, and he hopes the city bulldozes this fucking slum.

Lilith makes a distressed noise as she's splashed over with new goo and holds her breath because oh man. Composure control would be a thing if she wasn't in fight over flight mode and actually processing how gross this is. She takes a moment where she looks about to go toward Graham knocked around and down, then she notices Alexander being encroached from both sides with blob focus and looks apt to try something. Penny and Finch aren't looking so hot either, but...

She's thinking. It's written all over her. But whatever tactic she was working on doing, she foregoes in the name of what she -knows- she can do-- power the hell through. And little glass cannon she kind of is, she extends a hand to try and adjust what she's aiming to do to yank the blob apart from core center, twisting at the wrist one way, then another, like she's literally trying to mass jiggle the thing apart from the inside.

Penny hears pretty well and what she hears from the blobs is...a bit disturbing. Then she hears the words and her head snaps up and she dashes off towards...something. She has to squeeze past the blobs, which is just grossness in itself and she holds her breath as she goes. "Made it where?" she mutters as she splashes down the sewer injured.

"What?" Finch asks, confused at Penny's words, since she didn't hear anything herself. She looks around at the others.

Before this slime war even started, Byron recalled seeing a figure further down the tunnel immediately after they were basically poured down into the sour from the above drain. Thus when he hears something, a voice, coming from the direction the figure had run in, his attention is dragged to stare down that particular tunnel. "That must be the guy who I saw running earlier." Then with a furrowed brow, he adds, "And with that croaky voice, he's the one that we heard when we were still somewhere sane. Outside of this place." He turns to Penny, though in truth, he's keeping an eye out on the slime, "Somewhere Downtown maybe?" That's all he can muster. Despite the orders he'd heard given, he's not letting his guard down.

Alexander blinks. "Miss Faust! Don't--" and there she goes, "...split the party," he mutters, going from agitated to resigned. He doesn't chase after her, because blobs, and when Finch looks in his direction, he can only shrug, helplessly.

It's cool, Finch. Graham didn't hear anything, either, except the sound of his head hitting concrete (again). From the middle of the birdies-and-stars circling his head, he repeats, "What?" And let's just hope he doesn't accidentally shoot Penny when he's aiming for the blobs, 'cause yeah.

Finch clutches an arm against her side, which hurts so badly she can barely breathe. Cracked or broken ribs most likely. Whatever those things are, they hurt when they hit. Her other hand though, strikes out towards the greenish blob and a streak of fire ignites along it's middle section.

"Someone sent this... to..." Oh, Lilith looks angry with the very idea of someone or something siccing shit slimes that explode with painful nasty goo while she looks down along the tunnel suddenly, apparently catching on to what Byron hears. And when he says he -did- see someone else earlier when she only had an inkling glance, she suddenly looks wary instead of ready to charge off after a bastard irrationally. "Got... where to do... what?" She looks at Byron with her breath held, because despite the orders she also heard for retreat, she isn't sure what a retreat might turn into. They did morph together with a hug earlier, so buying time for a croaking figure in the distance as slime MO sounds problematic.

Then Penny is moving, Graham is firing and the blobs are going off again. She's yanked from trying to figure out what to do and lashes out with her hand lifting anew, brows knit hard as she stands in that aggro-ready stance next to Byron.

Alexander lunges for the black blob, but it is /way/ more flexible than he is, thanks to having no bones. He straightens just in time to take a foul splatter of goo to the chest, where it hisses and smells and burns. "Augh!" He scrapes at it with disgust. When the blob joins up to SUPERBLOB, he shouts, "I'm going to try and lock it down."

Penny slides to a stop over something that happens, "What are you doing?!" she calls down the tunnel. Because she was going to shout questions at things that she'd seen go that way! Then she's attacked from behind and the woman falls forward, her eyes closing for the moment. The fire in her hands dying out. When she hits the horrible water, that's what shakes herself back to consciousness and she tries to drag herself up. Blood running down her face as she does.

Graham, to Alexander, "Cool, I'm going to shoot at it more times." Without getting up. He just stays sitting in this river of gross. Probably, he won't accidentally shoot at Penny but let's double-check.

Okay, Byron wasn't expecting anyone to actually run in the direction of where the voice was coming. Especially not when there are two perfectly good blobs. But there goes Penny, his own attention broken after hearing the shot fire from somewhere behind him and off to the side. Of course, it was Graham. That's when he notices that Penny's placed herself somewhere that she could be a mostly innocent bystander struck by a stray bullet. "Don't... Look out!" Too late. Not only is Graham shooting in that direction, but the monster blob tries to stop the woman as well.

Not only that, once all is said and done, the larger slime goes off to eat... er absorb the green one that he'd been working on and it's eyes look to be set on him. "Just try it.." He murmurs, only semi-bravely. He's really feeling a little light-headed here due to the stench and the wound at his leg is annoying the fuck out of him.

Lilith is not okay with the morphed multicolor blob setting its sights on Byron right nearby and there's two things she looks inclined to do. One of those things is a small turn like she's about to shove him and play distraction while Alexander says he's going to try something, but she doesn't get that far. Her temper kicks in with a sudden stubborn burst of 'nope' when she focuses with lash out this time, downright stepping into her extend of hand to twist at the wrist again with desperate gesture flick, trying to yank the megaslime back into parts.

"This is not how I wanted to spend my Saturday," Finch mutters, as she backs up a bit away from the end of one of the blobs.

Alexander freezes in place, his hands coming up to his temples and rubbing at the slimy muck there. His mouth works quietly, as if trying to read something difficult. He shakes his head a little, then frowns. "I'm going to try to..." He stops trying to explain it, and just glares at the thing.

Taunting the giant black blob wasn't the smartest of Byron's ideas, but with his wounded leg, he wasn't going to be able to get very far even with Lilith trying to push him out of the way. Seeing what's coming, he reaches forward to dig his palm into that goo in order to send another quick charge through the monster. He feels the thing jiggling against his touch, but at the same time he takes a hard strike to the abdomen, the force is enough to not only knock him back, but to knock him over. He's a little dazed coming too, despite the actual injury being small beans for the most part. "Remind me," He starts, coughing out and spitting up disgusting bile, "To never do business on Elm again." It's mostly said out of annoyance, but he's feeling the animosity for the neighborhood that Graham was feeling earlier.

Finch doesn't waste any time. She rushes to the ladder and scrambles up it, trying to get to the surface and out of this muck, and home, into a shower, for at least a week.

Penny gives a look back to the group and when the big Blackblob doesn't attack she puts her hands in a less threatening position. She gives a look back down the tunnel and then she's getting rushed by OH GOD WHY?! The redhead presses herself against the wall and there's a very low squeak that might be from the woman. When the light shines down from the street light and the ladder there may as well be a heavenly chorus going along with it. She starts to head back that way, covered in gross.

When the thing is gone, Alexander sways in place, then just turns and disappears into the sewers. No goodbyes, of course.

"Alexander Clayton don't you dare!" Penny calls after the man.

Lilith doesn't take the time to think or worry or doubt herself when Byron goes down. And it doesn't really matter that this isn't the time to fuss because it really only takes a moment, but it's a pretty monumental reflex to want to slam her abilities into opposite gears, and she gives into it-- once he's moving again and she's partially pulling him up out of the sludge with help rousing on one arm, her other goes straight to pressure at his chest while he hacks and rightfully complains.

Mindlessly focusing with protective nature for who and what he is to her, the touch accelerates the lifebeat there with infused warmth of restorative speedup that dances on the very atoms and molecules and rush of blood, piecing and fanning out to restore some of his pain to help him move more witting and more quickly for escape.

She also might not have really even realized what she's just done. She's just ready to get out, because immediately after the next spray of the thing flying apart, she's wanting out out out, "C'mon. C'mon." It's to everyone, really, as much as Byron, urgency in her voice. But then Alexander goes the other way and she just kind of stares a beat, "... not that way!" Too late.

Yeah, good thing Graham stayed sitting down in the murky water. He takes that nasty splash from top to bottom. His sadness is a palpable thing - almost as palpable as the corn niblets stuck in his hair, fucking ew - and then he uses the wall next to him to start sliding to his feet. "I mean, bye," is his parting comments to Alexander (and Penny, if she's following the dude). He starts up the ladder, slips twice, and makes it out into the rain above-ground. OMG, he never thought he'd be so happy for a downpour in his life.

He slumps off toward Oak Avenue, where there are no shit-flans. #FuckElmStreet

Byron knows that Lilith rarely, if ever, uses her powers for good! Or the good of healing people anyway. So when he feels that touch to his abdomen, he just assumes that she's helping him to stand. He does have that bit of shrapnel in his leg after all. So he's limping for a time. With Lilith's help, however, they reach the ladder just as Alexander darts off further into the sewers. "For Christ's sake." But Byron doesn't have the strength to take chase. And to be honest, he doesn't care about Clayton all that much. Instead, he just wants out of this foul place so he can purge everything nasty that he may have swallowed and wash this grime off of him.

A look is given to Lilith to make sure that /she's/ alright. Battles are confusing, OK and it's difficult to tell who gets hurt and how. "I think.. they'll be alright." He says of Alexander and Penny. "Let's get the hell out of here." Even though he's the one hurt, he'll help her up the ladder if need be, only for them to emerge out in the rain. At this moment, the rain does help to help rinse them off. Or it's a start.

Lilith might owe Alexander Clayton a solid for a drunk night, but that doesn't mean she's about to leave Byron's side and plow into the sewers after him after all that! She has a little too much self-preservation and general fear for all that. And she's mostly fine other than rattled and bruised at the sternum, filthy as all hell, so it's not her getting help up that ladder, it's her stubbornly helping Byron once they're out in the rain. Which really just isn't enough of a shower to wash away all that.

Because seriously. Ew. Scary, yes. Ouch, yes. WTF, yes. But ew.